As environmental concerns continue to escalate, the need for a reliable and accurate method for precipitation sampling becomes more prominent, since data collected from this form of analysis is indicative of air quality among other factors.
Generally speaking, environmental contaminants are transported in the atmosphere and fall to the surface in rain and dust. To measure these it is necessary to capture dust fall and rain fall and analyze the precipitation for, inter alia, pesticides and organic contaminants.
Regarding the prior art in this field, U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,011, discloses an automatic precipitation sampler. The apparatus provides a precipitation receiving tray and a lid therefor. This apparatus does not provide a continuous closed circuit system employing a carrier fluid and accordingly, would not be useful for collecting dust precipitation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,499, provides a rain sampler having a reservoir for storing rain therein and a funnel positioned on the top of the reservoir. This reference does not teach a system or method in which a moving carrier fluid is provided to effectively receive all forms of precipitation and trace organic contaminants therein.
In view of the absence of an apparatus and method for collecting precipitation of all varieties, there clearly exists a need for a system and method capable of achieving this need.